Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg was a U.S. Marine, Harvard-trained economist, and RAND Corporation military analyst who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers — a top-secret 7,000-page Department of Defense history of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam. The documents revealed that four presidential administrations had systematically lied to the American public about the Vietnam War, knowing it was unwinnable while continuing to send soldiers to die. The New York Times and Washington Post published the Papers, and the Nixon administration attempted to stop publication through the courts — leading to the landmark First Amendment case New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), which reaffirmed press freedom against prior restraint. Ellsberg faced decades of prosecution under the Espionage Act, but the case was dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct. His act of conscience inspired a generation of investigative journalists and whistleblowers. He spent the rest of his life advocating for peace, nuclear disarmament, and government transparency until his death in 2023.